Tuesday, September 20, 2016

What Does a Migraine Look Like?

Sometimes there’s an aura. Or bright lights. Or blurred vision.

About
a billion people worldwide suffer from headaches caused by migraines,
which affect three times as many women as men. Most non-sufferers
understand the headache part, but explaining what a migraine looks like
isn’t easy – which is why the makers of Excedrin invented a simulator
to help people better understand migraines and the impact they can
have.

"Migraines are more than bad headaches – the pulsing pain
can be debilitating, and the associated symptoms like nausea and extreme
sensitivity to light and sound, really impact people's lives," said Dr.
Elizabeth Seng, a New York based psychologist.

GSK Consumer
Healthcare brought together several migraine sufferers and had them
explain the symptoms they most often experience during a migraine
episode, including aura, sensitivity to light and blurred vision. The
symptoms were then replicated with the simulator and conducted in a
controlled environment from everyday life – like riding the subway or
going to a restaurant -- to give non-sufferers the chance to safely
experience the full range of migraine symptoms

Many
found the experience unsettling and nauseating, as you’ll see in this
short video that Excedrin recently began airing on TV and over the
Internet: